Chunky Monkey {Raw} Honey Almond Butter

No matter how long you've been cooking or baking I'll bet you have a kitchen disaster or two to tell. Now I'm not necessarily talking about kitchen fires, floppy souffles or sliced fingers but the minor yet equally embarrassing flops that you will remember always and share with friends when ever the topic arises.

Mine happens to be the time several years ago I tried to make almond bars for a Christmas party.
You see, and keep in mind I was young and didn't bake much, I thought that when the recipe called for 1 cup of   "Almond Butter"   that meant to take a cup of butter and add almond extract to it and mix...........


There. I've told you, now you too know my shameful secret. No biggie. You've done something like that too right? Humor me.






Fast forward several years and many cookbooks and blog reading later, I not only know what almond butter is but I've discovered how easy and especially economical making your own is! Good almond butter is apparently worth it's weight in gold and I feel a twinge of guilt every time I buy it. My kids love peanut butter but I'm just not a fan and find it too in your face roasted pea nutty.

Almond butter however is in my opinion mild, creamy and a perfect addition to apples or on a sandwich with bananas and honey. Yum!

So I've seen my blog friends like The Fit House Wife and  Naturally Ella  posting creamy and beautiful recipes for home made almond butter and I new I had to make it part of my life.

Turns out that not everything goes according to plan on your first try. Ever in my case. While this almond butter was a really delicious and a hit with the whole fam, it wasn't as creamy as I wanted it to be. I think maybe I tried adding too much almonds into my Vita Mix at one time. The tips I've heard from around the web discouraged using a Vita Mix at all to make almond butter but I was an eager new owner of a shiny new Vita Mix and the guy at Costco told me it could do absolutely anything, so I went for it!

I'm going to take Jen's advice over at The Fit House Wife  and try adding less at a time and maybe freezing the almonds to avoid them heating up so much like they did this time.

First, you need to soak your raw,  unsalted  almonds for 4-6 hours in purified water. This makes them easier to digest by removing the tannic acid, an enzyme inhibitor in the skin. 

If you have a food processor use it, otherwise give it a go in your quality blender like a Vita Mix or Blendtec. Again, use less almonds than I did, start with 1 cup of frozen almonds.

Starting on low speed and quickly going up to high speed blend for 2-3 minutes. DO NOT ADD WATER!

This will be scary. It won't look like it will blend into a butter, but it will. First it will look like almond meal, then a paste, then butter. 

After about 3 minutes on high speed.

Add honey and salt AFTER it's to the consistency you want.

Since it wasn't as creamy as I dreamed of I'm just going to call it "Chunky Almond Butter" lookin' at the glass half full my friends.  It was still delicious and the bit-O-honey made this a perfect afternoon, post-work out/after school  treat.

Spread it on toast, spoon it on your green apples or just dip your spoon in the jar and enjoy!

To make it official Chunky Monkey Honey Almond Butter, slice some bananas and drizzle a bit more honey over the top.

You Will Need: 

1 cup frozen Raw, Unsalted almonds (preferably Organic)2 teaspoons salt (I use Pink Himalayan)1/4 cup Raw Local honey  (buying local helps fight common allergies!)Optional:  1 teaspoon cinnamon

What kitchen disasters have you had?

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Summer Broccoli-Citrus Salad with Prosciutto and Almonds

I was lucky enough to be invited to do a guest post on one of my absolute favorite blogs, Perry's Plate. What an honor. Natalie and I share a common interest in healthy and wonderful food so I had to come up with something not only healthy but delicious and fun as well. In sticking with the Simply Healthy Family standard, I also wanted to keep the dish simple and fuss free. Real Food for Real People. This is a dish anyone  can make and yet be proud to serve at a picnic or party. Please do stop by Natalie's beautiful site for this recipe and for your dinner, breakfast and dessert inspiration.

My dad was kind enough to invite all of us over to his gorgeous home for a big family BBQ last week. The weather was absolutely divine here in the suburbs of Phoenix and the huge trees in his backyard and constant cool breeze blowing through them made for a perfect backyard BBQ.

My dad is extremely serious about his landscape. It's a crazy passion that all of us 9 kids tease him about. He is very aware if even one single small plant or shrub 'burns out' or is looking sickly and is on top of it immediately. His front and back yards are huge and the variety and beauty of the artfully arranged desert vegetation far surpasses the Botanical Gardens in my opinion. Just ask him the name of a newly planted specimen and he will gladly tell you all about it's origin and why it is planted exactly where it is. Funny guy. It does create a very serene setting to sit and relax  next to the pool with friends and family. We are lucky ducks.

Oh, my point and I do have one....

The BBQ. Typically, BBQ's are not the healthiest of events. You have your hamburgers, hot dogs or other hunks of meat. Then there are the sides which usually include one or more of the following unhealthy foods: Potato Salad, Cole Slaw, 7 Layer Bean Dip, Macaroni Salad, Ambrosia Fruit Salad,

 Baked {sugary} Beans, Potato Chips and Soda or Lemon Aid.

I have been given the stink eye when ever I've mentioned that I am not in love with any of these foods (o.k., maybe the bean dip). Nope, not even hamburgers. And it's not just because they are unhealthy or because I have anything against meat per say, well that's not entirely true, but that's a whooooole other story. I simply just don't care for those types of foods. They are heavy, greasy,  mayonnaise-e and leave me feeling Yucky.

I'd much rather have a salad that's a real salad. Which in my view isn't covered up in mayo or smothered with cheese or Ranch Dressing. I honestly prefer to taste my veggies and to brighten their natural flavors with, well, natural flavors. What a concept huh? Take this Summer Broccoli Salad for instance.

Typically, in my experience at least, when you see a broccoli type salad at a picnic, BBQ, or get together it is tossed in some sort of creamy dressing and that's if there's a broccoli salad at all, usually it's 3 different varieties of potato salad.

I made this salad very light and healthy yet still sweet, salty and tangy, perfect for an outdoor summer supper. By very quickly blanching the broccoli, then tossing it with lemon and mandarin juices whisked with a drizzle of Organic honey it becomes a treat for the tastebuds. To make it worthy of a party side dish, I added oh-so-wonderful Prosciutto and tossed it all together with Mandarin orange segments and thinly sliced almonds which gently stuck to the broccoli giving the salad a bit of a toasty crunch.

Roll up 2 pieces of thinly sliced prosciutto and cut into thin strips.

Remember to visit Perry's Plate for the entire recipe and say hi! 

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Coconut Almond Oat Crunchies: Teacher Appreciation Week ideas and downloads.

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week. Yay for all of our wonderful teachers! My son Jack is in Kindergarten and his school is having a different theme each day to celebrate the teachers. Today is 'Fruit of Knowledge Day'.  We made these wonderful cookies that I got from Anja's Food for Thought and just added  fresh berries to the cut out flowers and butterflies. We packaged them up cute and sent them to Jack's wonderful {very patient} Kindergarten teacher Ms. G.

Teachers just don't get paid enough!  I can't imagine trying to keep all those little kids quiet and focused all day long. I have a hard time doing it with just 4! Other nice ideas to give to your favorite teacher would be school supplies or a gift card to an office store. Or a gift card to a restaurant or coffee shop.

What are you doing for your favorite teacher? OR If you are a teacher what are your favorite gifts?

Tomorrow is 'Plant or Flowers Day' I came across this cute idea on Barefoot by the Sea's blog for personalizing a little plant for your teachers. It comes from Skip to my Lou. She has kindly offered a free PDF download so you can personalize these cute flower tags with your child's name and print them out.

I used shredded coconut instead of grated to make them chewier and for the

 coconut to stand out more.

Coconut Almond Oat Crunchies

recipe from Anja's Food for Thought

Ingredients:

2/3 cup whole wheat flour


2/3 cup rolled oats

2/3 cup fresh grated coconut (plus more for sprinkling)

1/2 cup almonds, finely chopped

1/3 cup palm sugar (Raw sugar)

1/3 cup melted butter

2 teaspoons maple syrup or honey  {*I used brown rice syrup}

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons boiling water



Yields 15-20

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Preheat oven to 165C/325F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, coconut, almonds and palm sugar. Set aside.

Melt the butter. Take off the heat and stir in maple syrup. Set aside.

In a small bowl or cup combine baking soda with boiling water, then add to the butter mixture. Mix wet ingredients with dry ingredients until well combined.

Press the batter into the baking sheet, about 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle with grated coconut. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly brown. Remove from the oven and cut into squares. Return crunchies into the switched-off oven, and let them dry out for another 10 minutes.

Remove from the pan, once they are cooled completely.

 
 
What is brown rice syrup?


Brown rice syrup is a vegan and gluten-free liquid sugar substitute that can be used in baking and cooking to sweeten foods with less calories and to avoid the use of refined sugar. Vegans may prefer brown rice syrup to refined sugar, which is sometimes refined using bone char from animals. With a sticky, gooey consistency similar to honey, brown rice syrup tastes very sweet, but has a flavor much different from other sweeteners, such as honey and agave nectar. It is low on the glycemic index and it is all-natural, nearly always organic, and probably one of the healthiest sugar substitutes available, with the exception of stevia.


 
 
 

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Healthy Almond-Coconut Chocolate Thumbprint cookies ~ gluten free

Some days things just don't pan out the way I planned them to. Actually, that seems to be the norm rather than the exception lately. And by lately I mean since I had my first child 18 years ago. Holy crap! I have an 18 year old?!!  Anyway, this weekend I had to work on Saturday and was supposed to be off at 3p.m. and then planned on doing a little shopping at my favorite adds and ends Home store for kitchen props, plates, bowls, napkins etc. then go to Sprouts and then go home make a yummy dinner and possibly get some decent shots to put on the blog. 

At 2:35 p.m. however we get a call that we need to do an emergency tracheotomy on a patient. How rude. What's more, the Dr. didn't have an assistant so I got to double as a first assist and it was a difficult case, couldn't get the trach tube in because the patient had a mushy trachea. So now I'm tired and a bit cranky and it's 4:45p.m. So much for my nice afternoon. So much for making dinner. Pei Wei saves the day!

Fast forward to Sunday...... I was excited to try and recreate one of my favorite childhood breakfasts, cottage cheese pancakes. If you've never had them, don't wrinkle your nose till you've tried them. They are so good! The cottage cheese actually adds a bit of sweet creaminess to the pancakes, almost like a cream cheese crepe. I wanted to try to make them healthier by omitting the flour and tried using almond meal instead. Epic fail! The first batch crashed and burned, literally. The second batch was oily and burned.

Back to the drawing boards. 

Enter these cookies. Every problem or catastrophe can be solve with a good cookie and these are even fairly healthy! Bonus!

PREP TIME    15 MINUTES     BAKE    15 MINUTES     YIELDS   18-20 SMALL COOKIES

Ingredients: 

2 cups almond meal (almond flour w the skins un-removed) 

1 tablespoon flax meal (ground flax seed) 

1/4 cup coconut oil 

1/4 cup local honey  

1 teaspoon real vanilla extract 

1/2 teaspoon almond extract 

1/4 teaspoon sea salt 

1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes 

8 oz. bittersweet chocolate (chips or bar)

Preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

In a medium bowl mix together the coconut oil, honey, vanilla and almond extract. 

Gradually stir in the almond flour, flax meal and sea salt, and mix well until a uniform dough is formed. 

Scoop the dough by tablespoons and use your hands to roll into smooth balls. Roll the balls in the coconut flakes to coat. Place the balls onto the lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart, and use your thumb to press into the center of each cookie, creating a well for the chocolate. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes till lightly browned. Remove from oven, let cool. 

Meanwhile, in a small ceramic or microwave safe bowl add chocolate chips or chopped up bar. Microwave on medium power for 90 seconds. Stir. Microwave another 90 seconds or until melted.

Spoon chocolate into the center of the cookies and let cool. 

These cookies are also wonderful with a bit of fruit preserves in the middle, my favorite is apricot!

I am submitting this post to Tasty Tuesday's

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